Generally speaking, heart failure is a major public health problem affecting a great number of people. Heart transplantation has been one of the most effective therapies for treating heart failure. However, transplantations may be limited by complications from long-term immunosuppressive therapy, allograft coronary artery diseases, as well as the limited number of donor organs.
Mechanical circulation support (MCS) systems, both total artificial hearts (TAH) and ventricular assist devices (VAD) have been studied in the hopes of augmenting or replacing the role of heart transplantation for heart failure patients. A VAD may be a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) or a biventricular assist device (bi-VAD). Generally speaking, VADs may be employed to provide heart failure patients with therapies including as a bridge to or recovery from heart transplantation, as well as a long-term alternative to the transplantation.
TAHs and VADs are blood pumping devices connected to a patient to receive blood from a source and pump the blood to one or more destinations within the body of the patient. For example, an LVAD receives blood from the atrium or ventricle of a patient and pumps the blood into the aorta. An RVAD, on the other hand, receives blood from the atrium or ventricle and pumps the blood it into the pulmonary artery. An MCS generally includes external components including, e.g., control electronics and power sources connected by one or more percutaneous cables to internal components including, e.g., a blood pump. As a patient resumes regular activities after receiving an MCS, the design and configuration of the MCS equipment they wear becomes an important aspect of their safety and comfort.